


Living Forest

by shiny_glor_chan



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-17
Updated: 2011-07-17
Packaged: 2017-10-28 21:06:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/312194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiny_glor_chan/pseuds/shiny_glor_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor, Rose and Jack get lost in a forest, that is alive. But where did it come from, because it sure isn't natural.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Living Forest

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was a surprise. It started off as practice, since this only my second finished Doctor Who fic. I used a meme (rules bellow), and it went pretty well. Do tell me how my characterization went. I haven't written any of these before except Jack in a fic I didn't quite finish yet. <3 Not beta'd, so any Brits, do tell me my mistakes. (This version of the fic is cleaned up for typos and such, but I still may have missed some.)
> 
> Meme Rules:  
> 1\. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.  
> 2\. Put iTunes or equivalent media player on random.  
> 3\. For each song that plays, write something related to the theme you picked inspired by the song. You have only the time frame of the song: no planning beforehand: you start when it starts, and no lingering afterward; once the song is over, you stop writing. (No fair skipping songs either; you have to take what comes by chance!)  
> 4\. Do 5 of these, then post. ((I did 8, and the 9th song just wasn't going to mesh with how everything else fell into place.))

Rose ran. Nothing new, but the fact she was alone in a forest that shifted and moved around her like the rooms in the TARDIS did sometimes worried her. Jack and the Doctor had disappeared from her sight, and she just hoped the TARDIS key she was gripping in her hand would lead the way.

A tree appeared in front of her, making her skid to a halt. The trees had closed in on her, and even the gaps between the trees seemed too small for her to squeeze through. She looked around for escape, looking up and saw the tree leaves rustle. She looked up further, and the key in her hand glowed. The TARDIS had come for her.

 

The Doctor breathed in calmly, taking in his surroundings. Both Jack and Rose had disappeared in the forest, and he wasn't about to hope they were at least together. The forest was sentient, that much was obvious. He dug into his leather coat, whipped out his sonic screwdriver, and began to analyse the trees.

They didn't register as sentient, but that didn't mean much. The Doctor wanted to figure out this puzzle, but he had his two human companions to worry about, and as he turned in a circle with his sonic, it told him Jack had gone in one direction while Rose had gone in another. He knew the Captain could take care of himself, so he headed for Rose's location, only to get turned around.

 

He heard singing. Jack could hear and feel it through the trees, calling to him, but he knew better than to follow it, but the trees had a different idea. He couldn't help but follow the song, even though he tried. He cursed that his teleport didn't seem to want to work in this living forest. Something was blocking it, and he had a feeling the singing had something to do with it.

A flash of pink in the corner of his eye made him spin around. “Rose?” he called out.

He turned back around, suspicious of the trees around him that had moved again. There was a flash of black leather, and he ran towards it.

“Doctor?” he asked, reaching out, and he felt the leather for a moment before it disappeared. “...right. What the hell is this forest?”

 

The TARDIS key wasn't glowing when she held it up in her hand where the TARDIS floated above her. Rose frowned and pulled back her hand; she wasn't positive, but she felt like that wasn't the TARDIS there to save her. Were the trees making her see things?

The tree swayed as a reply, and she glared. She couldn't go forward, so she could only go up. She gulped and began to climb. She would get to the TARDIS, whether it was right in front of her or not. She'd find Jack and the Doctor, and then they'd have a cuppa together in the TARDIS, forget this whole stupid forest ever separated them.

“I'll find the Doctor, and I'll find Jack, and no bloody forest is going to stop me!” she shouted determinedly as she climbed up.

 

Now he was sure he must of done something to piss off this forest in a passed life, and with him, it could be completely true. Though, as he sonic'd away the branches trying to impale him, the Doctor began to get an inkling this wide-awake forest had something to do with someone he used to know.

That meant he needed to get the hell out of here and back to the TARDIS to analyse the energy of the forest, but Rose and Jack were his main priority as he pocketed a piece of branch.

 

The music reminded him of a siren's call, but it stopped when he stepped into a clearing where the trees gave him space. Jack's eyes narrowed at his surroundings. He had reached somewhere important, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out this place. It was strange, since the forest had been so small...

“It's bigger on the inside!” Jack exclaimed as he uncovered his wristcomp. “Now, let's see if you give any sort of the same readings the TARDIS does...”

Jack jumped back, covering his wristcomp when the trees closed in again and the branches attacked. “I'm going to guess I'm right, and there's a reason you don't want the Doctor to know what I've figured out! Nothing's gonna stop me!”

The trees made an ominous sound, and Jack gave them a charming grin. “Bye now,” he replied as he ran off, ducking through the trees before they completely closed rank on him.

He saw another flash of pink as he ran, and without another word, Jack ran as fast he could, hoping it was really Rose this time.

 

Rose breathed in deep as she reached for the TARDIS. Her fingertips brushed against it, shocking her fingers. She gasped, pulling away and clinging to the tree. It wasn't the TARDIS, but she was sure if had something to do with this forest being alive.

“But why let me up here, then?” she questioned herself. “If this is a power source, then why-”

The tree branch beneath her gave out, and suddenly it was clear why the trees allowed her this far. Rose screamed as she fell, trying to break her fall by grabbing the tree branches on the way down, but they all evaded her. Rose apologized to the Doctor and Jack in her brain as she shut her eyes tightly, waiting for impact.

“Rose!” a voice screamed bellow her.

Her eyes snapped open, and she saw Jack with his arm outstretched. Her breath caught as he fell into her arms, and they tumbled to the ground. Rose clung to him with a relieved sob. He held her tight in return.

“Jack,” she murmured as she pressed a kiss to his lips. “You broke my fall.”

He gave her a brilliant smile. “You have to stop making a habit of falling from the sky, sweetheart.”

She smacked him lightly with a sniffle.

 

Before Jack could reply, the Doctor tumbled in, ending up sprawled beside them. “Doctor!” Rose exclaimed as she rolled off Jack. “Are you all right?”

The Doctor held her close for a moment, glancing at Jack then looking up when he noticed a shadow that couldn't have been caused by the trees. “What the hell is my TARDIS doing up there?” he asked with a scowl.

Rose pulled away. “I don't think it's really the TARDIS,” she told him. “My key wasn't glowing when I got close.”

“Got close? Rose,” the Doctor questioned, eyes narrowing as he looked her over, “how did you get close?”

“I climbed up,” she replied, showing her slightly singed fingertips. “It burned me, then that apple tree decided it was time for me to drop like an apple.”

 

Before the Doctor could say a word, Jack jumped in. “And I caught her,” he stated. “She's safe, and she found out that wasn't the TARDIS. Useful, right?”

The Doctor's scowl didn't dissipate, but at least it was directed at him instead of Rose. “And what if you hadn't been here, Captain?”

Jack kept himself from wincing. “Doesn't matter. I was, and she's safe.”

“And _she's_ right here, and would appreciate not being talked about like she isn't,” Rose stated as she pulled away from the Doctor to stand. “We need to get out of here. I don't think the trees are very happy we found each other.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed as he stood up and offered the Doctor his hand. “And there's something else about this forest you should know, Doctor.”

“And that would be?” the Doctor asked as he grudgingly took Jack's hand.

“I think this place is bigger on the inside, like the TARDIS,” Jack replied as he pulled the Doctor to his feet. “The forest stopped me when I tried to scan to see if this place gave any energy off similar to the TARDIS.”

 

Rose watched as the Doctor frowned. “So, this forest is like the TARDIS then? That explains the tree shifting around like the rooms in the TARDIS.”

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, scanning the trees with a bit of a haunted look on his face. “Doctor?” Rose questioned carefully. “Was this... Was this left behind by your people?”

“No, not my people,” he replied as he looked at the sonic's readings. “Just one in particular. Why she would lay a trap for me that she never sprung...”

“A lady friend?” Jack questioned, about to continue when the Doctor's glare silenced him.

“No, a Time _Lady_ ,” he said tersely. “Not quite her style, but it serves a purpose, I suppose. Maybe this was an early on experiment.”

“Experiment?” Rose asked as the Doctor raised his sonic toward the fake TARDIS.

The Doctor stayed silent as he changed the setting on the sonic screwdriver, and the fake TARDIS blew to bits. Jack quickly pulled Rose to his side, shielding her from the falling debris as the forest faded away, revealing they had left the forest quite a few metres back. Rose peeked her head out from under Jack's arm then smiled.

“Look! There's the real TARDIS!” she exclaimed joyfully.

 

The Doctor pulled his eyes away from the last remnants of the Rani's experimental trap and looked at the TARDIS. He grinned, putting the forest and its trickery behind him as he pulled out his TARDIS key. It slipped into the lock easily, and with a twist of his hand, the door opened inward. He stepped inside.

“Come on, then. That riddle's solved, so onward to the next adventure,” he told his companions over his shoulder before he disappeared inside.

 

Jack shared a look for Rose. “Think he'll tell us what really happened here? I know he figured out who was behind this,” he told her as they walked toward the TARDIS.

Rose shook her head. “Doesn't matter now,” she answered as they reach the door. “All his people are dead, so that means this Time Lady is too. I don't think he'll mention this again.”

“Right,” Jack agreed with a frown as Rose disappeared inside.

Pausing for a moment, Jack looked over his shoulder and back at the forest. He hoped for a moment that this adventure hadn't brought up too many bad memories for the Doctor, but if it did, he decided that he was going to talk the Doctor into making the next trip to somewhere with a good night life. That drink he needed to buy the Doctor wouldn't go amiss, Jack thought.

“Captain, get your arse in here, or we're leaving without you!”

Jack laughed. “You know you'd miss my arse!” he called as he jogged inside, closing the door behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> Songs used for the original meme, in this order:
> 
> Inuyasha – Deep Forest (English) [4:07]  
> Yu Yu Hakusho – Yusuke Power Up [3:56]  
> See-Saw – Anna ni Isshodattanoni [4:49]  
> Blumchen – Boomerang in der Luft Mix [3:52]  
> Final Fantasy IX – Nobou Uematsu – Awakened Forest [2:28]  
> Michael Jackson – Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' [6:03]  
> Bryan Adams – Please Forgive Me [5:55]  
> Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core – Takeharu Ishimoto – Theme of CRISIS CORE “Under the Apple Tree” [4:02]


End file.
